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1. Field of the Invention
Technical Field
The invention relates to an electrical connector with electrically contacting contact pins or contact sockets such as plugs or couplings, which includes a device for deflecting light in preferred directions of the illuminating body emitting a light, such as a light-emitting diode LED or other diode or incandescent bulb, in particular for the operating display of a illuminating body of electrical circuits in casings with view windows.
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
State of the Art
Frequently, a light-emitting diode or incandescent bulb is required for a display of specific states of the electrical circuit in connection with electronic circuits, which are located or encapsulated in shells or casings. In this context, if possible, the light-emitting diode or incandescent bulb should be visible from several sides such that the view angle for the observer becomes as large as possible. For this it is known to drill four holes staggered in each case at an angle of 90 degrees into shells or into casings for proximity switches. The light-emitting diode can then be seen from four sides through the four holes. The light-emitting diode is normally disposed in a plug insert and the plug insert is inserted into the shell or into the casing. The disadvantage of such arrangements comprises that, upon employment of a light-emitting diode, the light-emitting diode is associated with a radiation characteristic, which radiates for practical purposes only along the longitudinal axis of the light-emitting diode or, respectively, of the shell, such that the light-emitting diode appears to be only weakly illuminating in case of a lateral view through the laterally disposed windows. In case of small operating currents of the light-emitting diode and upon radiating in the direction of the axis of the shell or of the casing, there hardly remains any light which can exit radially through the view windows.
A multi-pole electrical plug connector device became known through the printed patent document DE 37 03 423 A1, which multi-pole electrical plug connector device includes a cable plug and an apparatus part with a front plug part for receiving the cable plug. The cable plug is furnished with light conductors in order to be able to monitor therewith the operating status of the apparatus part. The light conductors are furnished inside of the cable plug, wherein the light conductors are furnished as right-angled rigid rods made of a clear transparent plastic with a reflection face disposed in the bend of the rod, which reflection face exhibits an inclination angle of 45 degrees, such that a 90-degree reflection of the light passing through the light conductor is given.
Lamps are known from the British printed patent document GB 607,922 A which exhibit massive curved arm-shaped light-guiding bodies of different forms, where an incandescent bulb is disposed at a front side end of the light-guiding bodies, wherein the light of the incandescent bulb exits at the other end of the light-guiding body. Such light-guiding bodies are also known from the citation in the literature A. M. Blumenfeld and S. E. Jones: Parts That Glow, in: Machine Design, Oct. 29, 1959, pp. 94 through 103.
A disk-shaped light-guiding body made of clear transparent plastic in the shape of quarter circles is known from the U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,504, which light-guiding bodies are combined in parallel to a set. Diodes are disposed at a front side radial delimiting face of in each case one disk, wherein the light of the diodes is deflected by 90 degrees within the disk, which light is deflected after reflection at the curved delimiting face of the disk and which light exits again approximately at a right angle through two arms disposed at the disk, wherein the two arms are directed perpendicular to that delimiting face, in which face the diodes are disposed, such that a 90 degree reflection of the light is furnished. The set can be plugged with pins onto a printed circuit board.
Furthermore, a diode is known which is furnished with a on top-positioned, beaker-shaped screen in the main radiation direction of the light, wherein the main radiation direction of the light coincides with the longitudinal axis of the diode, and wherein the top-positioned, beaker-shaped screen somewhat expands the incident radiation.
Technical Object
It is an object of the invention to furnish an electrical connector of the kind recited, which electrical connector deflects the radiation of an illuminating body preferably at a right angle relative to the main radiation direction of the illuminating or light body or, respectively, of the casing for the purpose of making the radiation of the illuminating body better visible from the side, wherein the illuminating body is disposed inside the casing, such that the illuminating body is visible brightly luminous from a plurality of sides of the connector.
Disclosure of the Invention and its Advantages
The solution of the object of the invention comprises an electrical connector with electrically contacting contact pins or contact sockets, such as plugs or couplings. Said connector exhibits on one side a receiver part, into which receiver part there is inserted a light-guiding body made of a light-transmitting material with at least one illuminating body. Feed lines for the contact pins are led through the receiver part. The light-guiding body is furnished with at least two arms. The two arms exhibit at their abutting ends on the side opposite to the illuminating body a surface which is planar inclined or curved in direction of the longitudinal axis of the main radiation direction of the illuminating body. The surface forms in each case the reflecting deflection surface of the respective arm and is capable of deflecting the light mainly in axial direction within the respective arm at an angle of from between about 40 to 140 degrees relative to the main radiation direction of the arm. The reflecting deflection faces of the arms in each case impact each other jointly in the axis of the main radiation direction of the illuminating body in a tip or edge directed into the light-conducting body. The light-guiding or light-conducting body exhibits a recess below the tip or edge, wherein the illuminating body is disposed in the recess.
The electrical connector according to the present invention is associated with the advantage that the connector deflects and laterally reflects visible light or infrared or ultraviolet light emitted by the illuminating body, such as a luminescent element, light-emitting diode or other diode or incandescent bulb, from the direction of the main radiation direction of the illuminating body, wherein the main radiation direction is in particular the longitudinal axis of the light or illuminating body, such that the reflected light exits at an angle of between about 40 to 140 degrees depending on the direction of the arms, wherein the direction of the arms relative to the center axis of the light-guiding body can also amount to between about 40 to 140 degrees. In case of an embodiment of the light-guiding body with a deflection angle of about 90 degrees, the light-guiding body preferably comprises two pairs of arms disposed in a plane and having the same length and aligned in an antiparallel direction and crossing each other at a right angle, such that the light of the illuminating body is mainly deflected at a right angle relative to the main radiation direction of the illuminating body. Thereby, the illuminating body can be seen or be detected brightly luminous laterally at the circumference of a shell or of a casing, because the substantially largest part of the radiation of the illuminating body is deflected and exits to the outside through the outer front faces of the arms. View windows are disposed inside of a shell or of a casing in the region of these front faces of the arms, such that the illuminating body can be easily seen or detected from the outside. Thus, the light-guiding body advantageously operates as a collimator.
Furthermore, the increase in the illuminating density can not only be obtained by deflecting the light from the longitudinal axis of the illuminating body by a predetermined angle of preferably 90 degrees, but also by bundling the light in the arm itself or in the arms themselves. Thus, the deflection is performed in preferred directions. The arms can be radially formed or molded at an end of the light-guiding body and the arms can form two arm pairs disposed in a plane, crossing each other and aligned antiparallel relative to each other, wherein the arms are of solid material. The reflecting deflection faces of the arms can in each case form part of an ellipsoid or of a paraboloid or of a cylinder jacket or can be planar faces, which exhibit a deflection angle of about 90 degrees, wherein the illuminating body reaches into the region of the abutting ends of the arms within the recess, and wherein the recess reaches up to below the tip.
Advantageously, the plug can exhibit a beaker on the side disposed opposite to the illuminating body, wherein the beaker is sitting on the arms of the light-guiding body and contains the contact pins, wherein the plug and the beaker are formed cylindrically or parallelepipedally and the front faces of the arms are disposed in the jacket plane of the cylinder or in the delimiting faces of the parallelepiped of the plug. Furthermore, the light-guiding body can exhibit two or three or five or six arms disposed in the shape of a star, wherein the arms have the same arcuate distances from each other, wherein the illuminating body is disposed centered or off-centered below the abutting ends of the arms. The inclined surfaces of the opposing arms of the light-guiding body, which inclined surfaces form in each case the reflecting deflection face of the respective arm, can be formed in each case as holographic lenses or as holographic mirrors. The light-guiding body itself can bundle the light of at least one illuminating body into at least one or several preferred directions. The light, exiting from a illuminating body and expanding and propagating in the light-guiding body can be thrown onto at least two different reflection faces of two different arms through a mirror face of the light-guiding body and can exit out of the arms in a focussed way. Furthermore, the illuminating body and can be identical to the light-guiding body and can exhibit the desired shape of the light-guiding body.
The reflecting deflection faces can reflect based on total reflection or they can be formed as a mirror with a reflecting layer in an inward direction toward the light-guiding body. The inclined surfaces, which form in each case the reflecting deflection face for the respective arm, can be disposed at the foot of the recess as a projection with inclined surfaces within the recess for the illuminating body. Similarly, the light-guiding body can be furnished with a plurality of inclined and reflecting surfaces, coordinated to each other, wherein light bundles, exiting from an illuminating body between coordinated surfaces are multiply reflected inside of the light-guiding body and are led toward the outside of the light-guiding body.
A plurality of illuminating bodies can be employed within one and the same light-guiding body instead of a single illuminating body. The light-guiding body can be formed cylindrically or parallelepipedally, and the pairs of arms can exhibit the same length in an antiparallel direction. The arms can be radially molded to an end of the light-guiding body and can form two antiparallel pairs of arms crossing each other and disposed in a plane. The arms are preferably of solid material.
The reflecting deflection faces of the arms can be in each case a part of an ellipsoid or of a paraboloid or of a cylindrical jacket or planar faces, which exhibit a deflection angle of about 90 degrees, wherein the illuminating body reaches into the region of the abutting ends of the arms in the recess and the recess reaches up to below the tip.